Dear High School Me,

I know it seems hard right now. Scratch that. I know it seems completely impossible: the balance of academics, athletics, and your social life. On top of all those vital aspects of your high school career, you’re also going through intense personal problems. I know all of that, believe me. What I also know is that this is just the beginning to the rest of your life. It’s a cliche but it’s true.

What you do now doesn’t define who you will be in the future. That boy that you are chasing after and losing sleep at night for, doesn’t love you, he loves your body. That Spanish test that you failed is no measure of your intelligence level. That missed basket that cost your team the game, will long be forgotten in a matter of days. These things are not accurate representations of the person you are, or better yet, the person that you will ultimately become.

I want you to stop feeling sorry for yourself because although you are fighting a battle, so are so many other people. Stop playing the victim to the problems that you caused for yourself. You have to learn how to change yourself and accept that you’re not perfect, because nobody else can do it for you. So stop skipping all of your classes, stop talking back to your teachers and your parents, and stop trying to solve your problems at the bottom of a bottle or at the end of a cigarette. It’s not worth it and I promise you it gets better.

You will soon leave these fluorescent lit hallways, filled with sleep-deprived teenagers and metal lockers. You will soon be on to bigger and better things, and for that I couldn’t be more excited for you. High school is hard, but you have to realize that you made it harder for yourself. The more of a fight you put up, the harder it is to see the good in your life. That’s because you’re too busy worrying about when the next party is or what time your detention is, to see that there are so many opportunities that you are throwing away, or that in what seems like hollow hallways there are so many people that truly care about your well-being, even if you don’t.

You will get through this. When you get your first college acceptance letter or cross that stage at graduation and finally get to hold that diploma that you never thought you'd get, you will never feel more proud of yourself. It’s like no other feeling in the world, knowing that all odds were against you and you still manage to make it out alive.

Stop cutting classes, stop disrespecting authority figures, and stop trying to forget your problems with the help of drugs or alcohol, because those things won’t get you anywhere in life. You are a strong person who is capable of so much more than what you’re showing everyone. Prove your guidance counselor wrong and show him that you are able to get accepted into a fantastic college, prove to your parents and your friends that you aren’t some self-destructive time bomb waiting for the next “catastrophe” to strike, and prove to yourself that you are worthy of a successful and happy life.

Things get better when you do.

Sincerely,

Older You